Method of making and applying cigar wrappers



April 19, 1938." Y F. x. MALOYCSAY 2,114,304

METHOD OF MAKING AND APPLYING CIGAR WRAPPERS I Original Filed April 21, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l I I' 1: f j I; Hi

I I I 1 1 j 7' 2 It FI INVENTQR A i-il '19, 1938.

' F. x. M |,qcisA,Y METHOD OF. MAKING AND APELYING CIGAR WRAPPERS Original Fiied April '21, 1956- V Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig l5.

UNITED STATES'PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF MAKING AND APPLYING CIGAR I WRAPPERS Francis X. Malocsay, Upper Saddle River, N. J.

Original application April 21, 1936, Serial No. 75,580. Divided and this application. August 18, 1936, Serial No. 96,584

9 Claims.

This invention relates to wrappers or enclo-' sures for cigars and similar articles and particularly to methods of making the same. This application is a division of my co-pending application, Serial No. 75,580, filed April 21st, 1936.

At the present time, cigars are usually wrapped means of removal is provided whereby the wrap- 6 or enclosed intransparent wrappers or enclopers may be easily removed from the cigar; the sures, such wrappers or enclosures being generwrapper may easily be composed of two or'more ally composed of the clear, transparent sheet independent sections of differentmaterial, one of 10 material widely known and sold under the trade which covers the consumable portion of the cigar 10 name of Cellophane and also, under various and may be opaque thereby protecting the conother trade designations. This form of wrapper sumable part of the body of the cigar from the usually consists of a single sheet sufficiently large effects of light, and the wrappers may be so printenough to completely enclose the cigar and proed with cigar band representations that the said tect it while being boxed, carried or handled. In representations will be closely spaced on the 15 addition to the form of enclosing wrapper just C ll ph n rip ing the printin p described, each cigar is usually banded. In some tion whereby the pr Output Will be greatly cases, the cigar band is located on the inside of crea d and the 00 t Ofth pp thereby the Cellophane wrapper. In other cases it is materially lessened.

located on the outside of the wrapper. Efforts A further object of the. invention is to provide 20 have also been made, with more or less success, a method of making and applying a wrapper to print the representation of a cigar band (11- bearing the printed representation of a cigar r ctly upon the Cellophane wrapper so that band arranged and disposed on a relatively small the wrapped cigar presents the appearance of besection of the wrapper separable and independ- 2 ing enclosed in a Cellophane wrapper and cut from the remainder of the wrapper whereby surrounded by a separate cigar band. the amount of printed Cellophane which the While the enclosure of a cigar in a cellocigar manufacturer must keep in stock is therephane wrapper has been found advantageous in by materially reduced. many respects, various obstacles and objections More particularly, the invention contemplates have arisen with the result that much time and the provision of a cigar wrapper arranged in at 30 eifort has been expended by the trade to produce least two sep p W edge po o a more satisfactory enclosure. For example, exthereof overlapped to any predetermined amount perts in ,the tobacco industry have declared that on a line extending transversely of the cigar. the action of light upon a cigar materially affects The two separate parts of the wrapper may be of the tobacco thereof and seriously impairs its similar or of difierent materials whereby the nu- 35 quality, and accordingly have suggested that merous advantageous results hereafter set forth V cigars be wrapped in opaque material rather than are attained. The invention resides in the proin Cellophane of the clear transparent variety. vision of improved methods by which these wrap- Some consumers of cigars have objected to the pers can be speedily and economically made and use of Cellophane wrappers on the ground that applied, preferably by automatic machinery com- 40 the Cellophane wrapper is dificult to tear off parable with, if not more effective than that or remove. This has caused some manufacturers which is in use for making the conventional kinds to provide the wrappers with tearing tabs andof wrappers and applying the same about the weakened points on the wrapper intended to aid cigars.

in the removal of the wrapper. In the accompanying drawings wherein several 45 In cases where the'cigar band representations embodiments of the invention are shown, Fig. 1 have been printed directly upon the wrappers, is a face view of two wrapper sections which comost manufacturers have found the cost of these operate in the formation of a cigar-enclosing wrappers prohibitive, since the wrappers are wrapper; Fig. 2 is a view of the same elements,

printed in continuous strip form and the represhowing how they may be overlapped before their 50 sentations of the bands are printed so widely application to a cigar; Fig. 3 is a face view of apart upon the strip that the printer's output for a cigar enclosed in a'wrapper composed of the a given time is exceedingly low, thus greatly inelements shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with a cigar band creasing production cost to an almost prohibitive applied over and concealing the joint between extent. 55

The object of the present invention therefore, is to provide methods of making and applying sev-. eral forms of cigar wrappers in which-the objec tions herein set forth are obviated. That ,is to say, with the improved wrappers, a simplified the wrapper elements; Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 5 is a face view of two wrapper elements, the smaller of which is composed of transparent material and the larger of opaque material; Fig. 6 is a face view of a cigar enclosed in a wrapper composed of the two elements shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a perspective view, illustrating how the smoker may conveniently remove the wrapper; Fig. 8 is a plan view of a strip of "Cellophane or similar transparent material indicating the manner in which. the printed band representations are widely spaced apart when singlepiece wrappers are produced according to present day practice; Fig. 9 is a plan view of a similar strip showing how the printed band representations are closely spaced when my improved twosection wrapperis being produced; Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view indicating how the two sections of a wrapper may be brought together in preparation for application about a cigar; Fig. 11 is a side view of the elements shown in Fig. 10 showing the wrapper sections brought together and slightly overlapped and ready to be severed from their respective strips; Fig. 12 is a perspective view of portions of the two wrapper sections, showing their overlapped parts held together by a transversely extending crimping; Fig. 13 is a face view of a cigar enclosed in a wrapper produced in accordance with the method disclosed in Figs. 9 to 12 inclusive; Fig. 14 is a diagrammatic view showing the method of making a wrapper composed of two sections of transparent material over which a transversely extending narrow transparent strip bearing a printed band representation is attached; Fig. 15 is a longitudinal sectional view through a portion of a cigar bearing a wrapper and band construction according to the suggestion of Fig. 14, the view being taken on the line l5l5 of-Fig. l6, and Fig. 16 is a transverse sectional view through the structure of Fig. 15.

In producing a cigar wrapper of the character herein described, I contemplate utilizing two or more wrapper sections whereby smaller pieces of 1 material generally known as Cellophane" or by other trade designations. In the application of the two-section wrapper to the cigar, the wrapper sections are first brought together to cause their edges 3 and 4 to eitherabut or else to overlap to a greater or lesser extent, as illustrated at 6. Preferably, although not necessarily, some means is employed for holding the overlapped portions of the two wrapper sections together. For this purpose, spaced dots 5 of suitable adhesive might be employed. When the two wrapper sections are thus placed together, substantially as shown in Fig. 2, the wrapper so produced may then be applied about the cigar I2 in the conventional way by any of the wrapping machines now used for this purpose or by any suitable automatic wrapping machinery. When the wrapper is placed about the cigar, the longitudinal edges I0 and II of the wrapper overlap as usual and are secured together in the conventional manner, such as for example by either'glue or by heat-sealing. The ends of the wrapper sections now projecting beyond the opposite ends of the cigar are next 0 mpressed and folded down at 8 and 9, and the enclosing of the cigar is complete.

The relative sizes of the two wrapper sections I I and 2 are such that the meeting or joinder line such as the overlap 6 extends transversely of the cigar at normal cigar band position. Therefore, when the cigar band] is applied about the cigar and over the wrapper, it surrounds the cigar directly over the joint 6 and completely conceals the same so that the wrapper cannot be distinguished from the usual one-piece wrapper. The wrapper when applied to the cigar thus consists of two tubular sections having their meeting edges telescopically overlapping preferably, although not necessarily, at cigar-band position. The removal of the wrapper is extremely simple and is illustrated in Fig. 7. To remove the wrapper, the projecting ends of the wrapper sections are held in the hands and pulled in opposite directions, preferably after the band is removed. One of the sections will easily pull off the cigar in a direction axially of the cigar, thus permitting the second section to easily slide off.

The means employed for holding the overlapping portions of the wrapper sections together, such as the glue dots 5, and other means to be hereinafter described, should be such as to hold the two wrapper sections together during" the application of the wrapper to the cigar and during boxing and normal handling of the cigar, yet permitting the two halves of the wrapper to be easily separated in the manner indicated in Fig. 7 when the smoker wishes to remove the wrapper. In fact, a snugly applied cigar band located over the joint between the wrapper sections is quite suflicient to hold the wrapper in position and prevent separation of the wrapper sections without the use of the glue dots or other means for holding the two-wrapper sections together.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is shown a wrapper composed of two sections I and I3. The section I is similar to that described with respect to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 and is preferably composed of transparent Cellophane or other similar sheet material. The larger section I3 is preferably composed of an opaque sheet material, such as a foil or the like. After the two sections I and I3 are applied to the cigar in the manner similar to that described in respect to the sections I and 2, the cigar band I is applied over the joint between the two sections and conceals the same. It will be seen that the greater portion of the cigar, and particularly the consumable portion thereof, is enclosed in the opaque portion I3 of the wrapper and is thus protected from the effects of light, while the nonconsumable portion I4 of the cigar, including the tip portion which enters the mouth of the smoker is enclosed in the transparent or Cellophane portion I of the wrapper, so that a suflicient portion of the cigar is thus exposed to the view of the purchaser who can select his cigar in the usual manner by the shade of the tobacco.

At the present time, efforts are being made to produce a unitary cigar wrapp r and bandby forming a printed reproduction of the band directly upon a wrapper-shaped section of transparent material such as Cellophane, which when wrapped about cigar presents the appearance of a wrapper and separate band. Such wrappers are usually produced from a lengthy Cellophane strip, a part of which is shown at 20 in Fig. 8, and which is printed with the cigar band representations 2i widely spaced apart so that one of said representations will appear at I 2,114,804 .the proper location on each wrapper when it is the strip, (each wrapper being approximately 6% inches long for a six inch cigar), a six pound a roll of Cellophane" of the thickness and width generally employed for cigar wrappers, receives only approximately 6,600 printed band impressions. Therefore the printing of these wrappers is relatively slow, and accordingly expensive.

. In Fig. 9 is shown a Cellophane" strip 23a also bearing printed band representations 2|. This strip is arranged to be severed into wrapper sections to be applied in the manner of section I shown in- Figs. ,1 to 'l, or as section 231) in Fig. 13. Since these small wrapper sections enclose a portion only of the cigar, the printed band representations are accordingly placed relatively close together (approximately 2 inches apart for the six inchcigar) with the result that a six pound roll .of ,Cellophane will produce be tween 19,000 and 20,000 printed band impressions, thereby greatly speeding up the printing process and accordingly reducing the cost of the' wrappers considerably. Since these relatively small wrapper sections bear the printed cigar band representations, and the remaininglarger portions of the wrappers are of plainor unprinted material, always easily procurable in the open market, the cigar manufacturer is not compelied to keep in stock large quantities of the Cellophane normally required per wrapper when A method in which the wrapper sections 23b can be united with the co-operating sections 25a toiorm the two-part wrappers is disclosed in detail in Figs. 10 and 11. There the strip 23a shown in Fig. 9, and made up of the sections 23b, is fed by suitable feeding mechanism to the left and over a cigar l2 resting on a suitable support. The strip 25, arranged to be severed into wrapper sections 25a on the lines 25, is fed fromtheopposite end of the cigar and toward the right. Both strips are moved in the respective directions mentioned until they reach a position over the cigar with their respective edges 29 and slightly overlapping as indicated in Fig. 11 or overlapping to any desired extent.

For example, if edge 23 overlaps edge 30 for aconsiderable extent, a part of strip 25 will then extend behind the printed cigarband representation, and if the band representation is printed on the under side of strip 23a, as is customary in this art, a part of strip 25 will be locatedbetween the printing and the cigar and thus protect the cigar from contact with the ink used in the printing. The overlapped portions of the two strips are now joined together by any suitable means, as for example, the dots 5 of glue as shown in Fig. 1, or by. a'simple crimping device which applies a transverse crimp 3| across the overlapped parts of the two strips as shown'in Fig. 12. While the crimping action parent material.

then wraps the two-part wrapper about the cigar. The wrapped cigar is shown in Fig. 13. 1 Due to the transparent, glossy nature of the "Cellophane" material employed, the crimping 3| extending transversely of the cigar is scarcely noticeable and does not seriously detract from the appearance of "the wrapped cigar, and in fact adds to its appearance.

. '3 is taking place, knives 21 and 28 sever the strips 25 and 231'! on one of each of the lines 26 and 23 respectively, and-any suitable wrapping means In Fig. 14 another method of producing a satisfactory wrapper is disclosed. There two unprinted Cellophane" strips 25 and are fed to- .ward one another, and preferably over the cigar to be wrapped as described with respect to the method shown in Figs. 10 and 11. A third narrower strip 31, also of "Cellophane or similar transparent material, is fed in a direction at right angles to the direction of movement of strips 25 and 35. Strip 3'! bears spaced printed band representations 39, and is being adapted to be severed on the transverse lines 38, one of the sections thus severed from strip 31 overlying the adjacent edges of the strips 25 and 35 when said strips are brought together with their adjacent edges beneath the strip 31. Said edges on? the strips 25 and 35, shown at and M respectively 1 in Figs. 14 and 15, may be brought to a position of overlap in the manner described with respect to the edges 29 and 30 in Fig. 11, or they may,

be slightly spaced apart, as shown in Figs. 14 and 15, and be thus bridged by the band-bearing cut section from strip 31. Said cut section, when out from strip '31, is adhesively or otherwise secured to the faces of strips' 25 and 35, the-glue dots inFig. 14 indicatingsuch securing means,

of the longitudinal edges of strips 25 and 37, so

that when the three-part wrapper is applied about a cigar, this projecting pnrtion N forms a tab, as indicated in Fig. 16 wlnchmroiects sufficiently from the wrapper'to enable it to-be' easily grasped by the iin'gersto strip the band 1 section from the cigar, thereby permitting the other wrapper sections to be very easily removed.

In the structureshownin Figs. 5 and- 6 the wrapper is disclosed as being composed. of a small "Cellophane section and a larger section of foil or other opaque material. In some cases it may be found-desirable to make the Cellophane" or transparent-section in the form of a full sized wrapper to completely enclose the cigar. In such event, the opaque or foil section 13 will be of the shape shown in Figs. 5 and 6, and will extend from one end of the cigar to substantially cigar-band position and the larger Cellophane wrapper will then completely enclose the entire cigar including the opaque section l3. The general appearance of the wrapped cigar will-be quite similar to that shown in Fig. 6, its disadvantage thereover being that it requires a greater amount of Cellophane" or transhave herein referred to the materials employed in the production of the several wrappers disclosed as Cellophane for convenience in enabling the character of the material most useful for the purpose described to be easily identified. I wish to be understood however, as in no way v limiting myself to the use of that specific ma- It will be understood, however, that it may well be composed of additional sections in cases where saving of material, the utilization of small sections of material and various printing effects are desired.

whatf I claim is:

l. The method of making a cigar wrapper consisting in feeding two narrow lengthy strips of sheet material toward one another to bring their narrower ends into overlapped relationship, attaching the overlapped portions together, and severing a section from each of the strips.

.2. The method of making cigar wrappers consisting in placing together at least two sections of sheet material in overlapped relationship, one of said sections bearing a printed cigar band representation and the other section being unprinted, and in overlapping the unprinted section with the printed section to an extent necessary to cause a part of the unprinted section to extend behind and become concealed by the cigar band representation.

3. The method of making cigar wrappers, consisting in feeding two narrow lengthy strips of sheet material toward one another to bring their narrower ends into overlapped relationship, crimping the overlapped portions to hold them together yet permitting them to be manually Pulled apart to separate them after the wrapper has been applied to a cigar, and severing a section fr m each of the strips.

' In the method of making cigar wrappers, the steps of feeding a narrow stripof transparent material bearing printed cigar band representations toward an unprinted strip of similar width until the edges of the two strips are brought into overlapped position, attaching said overlapped portions together, severing a short section from the printed strip and severing a longer section from the unprinted strip.

5. The method of making cigar wrappers consisting in the steps of feeding a pair of narrow strips of sheet material toward one another to bring their edges together, and in feeding a narrow strip of transparent sheet material bearing cigar band representations transversely across the faces of the strips and over the meeting point of the edges of said strips, adhesively attaching said narrow strip to the pair of strips, and severing a section from said narrow strip of a length substantially the width of the pair of strips.

6. The method of making cigar wrappers consisting in the steps of feeding two narrow strips of thin transparent sheet l material toward one another to bring their adjacent ends into close proximity but slightly spaced apart, feeding a narrow strip of transparent material transversely across the ends of the two strips to bridge the same, attaching said narrow strip to the two first mentioned strips to cover the space between the ends of the same, and severing the applied'section from the narrow strip, said section bearing the printed representation of a cigar band.

'7. The method of making cigar wrappers consisting in the steps of feeding two transparent wrapper sections toward one another to bring their ends together, feeding a narrow strip of transparent material bearing printed cigar band representations transversely across the two strips and over the adjacent end portions thereof, securing said narrow strip across the end portions of the two strips, severing a section bearing a band representation from the narrow strip, said section so severed being longer than the width of the two strips to which it is attached whereby it has apart projecting beyond one of the longi .tudinal edges of the two strips to form a pull tab.

8. The method of making a cigar wrapper consisting in bringing two sections of. flat sheet material together to cause the adjacent ends of the sections to be located at substantially what constitutes cigar band position in the conventional one-piece cigar wrapper, and in applying means for connecting and holding the two sections together, said means including a cigar band or cigar band representation.

9. In the method of making cigar wrappers,

the steps of printing a plurality of spaced apart cigar band representations upon a-lengthy strip of transparent wrapper sheet material, with said representations spaced apart a distance less than the length of a cigar to be wrapped, severing the strip between said representations to thereby divide the strip into wrapper sections each of which is larger than the cigar band representations but smaller than is required to wrap a cigar and each of which bears one of the printed cigar band representations, and utilizing an additional cooperating section of sheet material in conjunction with one of the printed severed sections to form a complete cigar-enclosing wrapper.

' FRANCIS X. MALOCSAY. 

